ECI likely to extend the February 14-deadline for SIR in Bengal

THe feb 14 deadline for the Special Intensive revisal (SIR) in the poll-bound westward Bengal is potential to be extended after the sublime Court issued a slew of directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make the process transparent, accessible and voter-friendly, poll panel officials aware of the developments said.Meanwhile the election body has sought a report from the state’s chief secretary within 72 hours on why actions were not taken against four state government officials who were accused of adding names of fictitious voters in the electoral roll and compromising data security.“The Supreme Court order goes to suggest that something of this sort (extending the February 7 and February 14 deadlines) needs to be done. The ECI is yet to take a call on this. The list of electors with logical discrepancies has to be published. So, it is obvious that there would be some extension of the deadlines,” said a senior EC official in New Delhi.SIR was rolled out in West Bengal on November 4, 2025 and the draft electoral roll was published on December 16. The last date for submission of claims and objections was January 15. The ECI had extended it till January 19. The hearing process is scheduled to continue till February 7 before the final electoral roll is published on February 14.The Supreme Court, while hearing a batch of petitions on Monday, had directed the ECI to publish the list of 13.6 million voters in West Bengal who have logical discrepancies in their enumeration forms. The poll panel was also directed to give an additional ten days (after the list of logical discrepancies in published) to submit their documents.The list of persons with logical discrepancies and those who were unmapped would be published by January 24, the poll panel said on Wednesday.WEB ONLY PART“It is unlikely that the SIR process would be completed within the set deadline. The dates are likely to be extended,” said a senior poll panel official in Kolkata.This becomes important because the ECI is likely to announce the dates for the assembly elections in West Bengal soon after the Sir process is completed. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in April this year.The list would be displayed at gram panchayat bhavan, public place in every taluka, block offices and ward offices.The poll panel also wrote letters to the Director General of state police and the commissioner of Kolkata Police to ensure that there are no law-and-order problems which could hamper the ongoing SIR.“Strict action shall be taken in case of any non-compliance of the directions of occurrences of instances of any disturbance to SIR proceedings due to omission or commission of any act by the concerned authorities,” the letter to the DGP and police commissioner stated.On August 5, 2025 the ECI had directed the state government to suspend and initiate disciplinary proceedings against two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) for allegedly adding names of fictitious voters in the electoral roll and compromising data security. The state was also directed to register FIR against the four officers and a contractual staff.According to the ECI’s letter to the chief secretary, the state had ‘exonerated’ one official and a ‘minor penalty’ was imposed on another official. The poll panel was, however, not consulted by the state before the actions were taken.“A written explanation shall be called for from the competent authority responsible for the procedural lapse, clearly explaining the circumstances that led to non-compliance with the commission’s instructions,” the letter stated.No senior government or police official commented on the poll panel’s letters.htEnd’